Heavy rain overnight has helped firefighters bring the three major fires that were burning at Salt Ash, Fingal Bay and Heatherbrae under control.

Wind gusts up to 100km/h, temperatures in the mid-30s and low humidity resulted in nightmare conditions for firefighters throughout Sunday, before a strong southerly change later in the evening.

Many residents spent the night in evacuation centres because of fires threatening their homes, or due to road closures preventing access.

Meanwhile, recriminations have begun with accusations being traded between the Rural Fire Service and the Port Stephens mayor over whether enough hazard-reduction burning had been done.

Aside from the property loss, the human toll of the bushfires was evident when 1233's Paul Turton spoke to Pam la Frentz and her 88-year-old father, Reg, at their home on Brownes Rd at Salt Ash. (listen to attached audio)

All the outbuildings on their property were lost, including sheds, a ceramics studio and a boat-building workshop.

Pam says the flames came upon them with frightening speed.

"We had about five minutes from the time they hit the road and jumped the road, and we had spot fires starting out the back," she says.

"Within five minutes there were a couple of trees gone, and then the shed started to catch alight.

"Within 15 minutes all of the sheds, workshops, storage sheds, studios, everything were just flattened, absolutely gone within 15 minutes."

Pam was shocked to see the extent of the damage in daylight this morning.

"I just couldn't get over just how badly burnt everything is, there's just nothing but ash and twisted metal," she says.

"In those sheds down there, there's 30 years of my life before my husband died, everything I had was down there, all my photos, everything."

Pam's father, former boat-builder Reg, 88, lost his workshop where his son had constructed a fishing trawler just recently.

But despite their losses, Pam's staying positive.

"We'll bounce back," she says.

"We're alive, we're safe and the house is fine."

Reg recalls the days when locals did their own back-burning, and says the "tinderbox" of the nearby bush has residents terrified.

It's a sensitive issue and a contentious one that's involved the Rural Fire Service Commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons, and Port Stephens mayor, Bruce McKenzie, in a slanging match.

The mayor says residents should be permitted to do their own burning off.

But Shane told 1233's Philip Clark more hazard-reduction work is being done in NSW today than ever before.

He says local landholder management committees, along with councils, are responsible for setting hazard-reduction priorities in their area and can complain to the RFS if either public or private land-owners aren't complying.

The commissioner says no such complaints have been received from Port Stephens Council.

Port Stephens residents also had to contend with blackouts overnight, as a bushfire and lightning strike at Tomago resulted in a loss of power to 35,000 homes.

Supply was restored at around midnight after Ausgrid crews were given access by the RFS.

However up to 80 homes remain without power at Salt Ash due to power poles being destroyed by the bushfire, and Ausgrid advises it will take at least a day to restore supply.